Durgapur (WB) : Union HRD minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday alleged that Trinamool Congress leaders visited Hyderabad after the Dalit students’ death due to vote-bank politics and lashed out at Mamata Banerjee government over Malda violence claiming it was ‘appeasing’ minorities.
Addressing a public meeting, the BJP leader questioned why the Trinamool leaders did not visit Nadia in the state last year when an alleged incident of atrocities against Dalit women had occurred there last year.
“In 2015 when three Dalit women were tortured in Nadia district, nobody said anything. Mamata Banerjee was silent then,” Irani said. “TMC sent delegation to Hyderabad University to pursue vote bank politics. Why didn’t they send a delegation to Nadia district then ? Why didn’t Derek O’Brien go there?”, the HRD Minister asked.
A two-member TMC delegation led by its national spokesperson Derek O’Brien had visited Hyderabad University, where the body of dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula was found hanging in a hostel room in the campus on January 17.
Accusing the TMC government of indulging in “minority appeasement politics”, Irani said “What is happening in Malda? In Malda a police station was burnt under the patronage of the ruling party and the police remained a mute spectator. What were they doing ? TMC is pursuing vote bank politics,” she alleged.
